Julia Evans has always put others ahead of herself—her high school math
students, her troubled best friend, and her ex. But with New Year's
approaching, she buys a round trip ticket to Brazil. For one week, she
can put her needs first. She can meet a stranger in the hotel pool at
midnight and dance all night on the beach.

Screenwriter Blake Williams has to keep moving before Oz’s latest
scandal catches up to him. But the dark-haired beauty with a backpack
and an adventurous streak is messing with his plans. He can’t seem to
walk away from her. But secrets have a way of coming out, and when the
week is up, Julia and Blake will have to decide if they’re jumping into
the biggest adventure of all or playing it safe.

Excerpt

The FallsMonday

Julia heaved her bag off her shoulder
and rang the small silver bell. There was no one at the front desk, but
she’d already learned that in Brazil, life had a way of taking its
time. She set the backpack on the floor and twisted her long hair up
off her skin, welcoming the breeze on her neck.
It had been nicely air conditioned on
the bus, the first time she’d felt cool since her plane touched down
two days ago. The evening heat hit her as soon as she stepped into the
street, laden with luggage and unsure where to go. Clutching the map in
her guidebook, she’d finally found the turn-off for the hostel hidden
behind a row of palm trees, long fronds rustling as she passed. After
the twelve-hour ride from São Paulo, through rushing greenery and
endless fields, she wanted nothing more than a cold drink and a long
dip in the pool.
The pool was why she’d chosen this
place. “A delightful option,” her guidebook said. “Pousada Iguaçu may
be off the beaten path, but with a steady stream of travelers looking
to unwind, relax, and explore the waterfalls—the main reason to come to
this border town—you’ll be sure to leave with new friends from around
the world.”
New friends? She was sold. Just having
someone to talk to would make Iguaçu a major step up from São Paulo.
The most social contact she’d had in two days was when an elderly woman
waiting for the bus pointed out that Julia had been holding the map
upside down.
She took a deep breath. She wasn’t
alone, she reminded herself. She was a woman traveling solo.
Independent. Self-assured. She knotted her hair into a ponytail and
rang the bell again.
The sound of a door opening from the
garden made her turn.
She told herself that the first thing
she noticed were his eyes, clear blue like a tropical sea and looking
straight at her. Maybe his tan. Or the curl in his sun-lightened hair.
But no. She hadn’t gotten laid in she
didn’t know how long, and the man walking in from the garden behind the
lobby was shirtless, wearing nothing but cobalt blue swimming trunks
slung low on his tanned, narrow hips. She wasn’t about to miss a single
detail as her eyes ran from his sculpted chest down to the ripples cut
into his abs.
“You must be looking for André,” he
said, and Julia blinked in surprise at his Australian accent. His voice
made her think of the beach and diving into the pounding waves. She
could practically smell the sun on his skin.
She ran her eyes up and down his body
like she could feel him just by looking. Every inch of his muscular
torso. The softness of his thick, curly hair. A picture formed of its
own accord: her fingers hooked under the band of his shorts, yanking
him to her with a take-no-prisoners grip. Her mouth pressed against his
before he had time to protest.
There was no one around. She could
totally do it.

I'm delighted to have
Rebecca join me to anwer a few questions for the blog. Please give her
a very warm welcome ...

Thank you for having me here today!

So, what have you written?

I write contemporary
erotic romance about independent women who travel to new places, and
strong, outdoorsy heroes with muscle and heart. My first novel, ABOVE
ALL, features an artist and a younger chef in the Adirondacks. My
newest release, HOW TO FALL, is about a Chicago teacher and an
Australian screenwriter on a whirlwind week in southern Brazil. I also
have a short story set in the same town as ABOVE ALL—it’s available in
a new anthology of contemporary and historical romance authors writing
about food, the proceeds of which will go to food-based charities.
Currently I’m working on a series set in Washington state. The first
book, MAKE ME STAY, is about a former Olympic skier and coach who takes
a gorgeous stranger to bed, not realizing she’s the real estate
developer who’s taking his land and livelihood.

Is there a message in
your newest novel that you want readers to grasp?

A lot of HOW TO FALL has
to do with friendship and loyalty. For a long time Julia has put her
needs second in order to help her best friend. Blake, meanwhile, has
been deeply betrayed by his closest confidant. So both the hero and
heroine have these friendships that have shaped them in profound ways,
but they’re both also kind of stuck. Blake can’t move on from the loss
of his friend. Julia can’t see how to advance her own life and be there
for someone else. For both of them there’s this tension between, how do
you be a good person and friend while still following your heart,
taking risks, and dreaming big for yourself—especially if those dreams
take you far from those you love?

(Deanna): I love knowing
the essence of a story. :-)

Are the experiences based
on someone you know, or events in your own life?

A lot of the events in HOW
TO FALL come from my own life—way more than anything else I’ve written.
I traveled to Brazil in 2004-2005 and again in 2006 and have been to
all the places described in the book. I’ve done the things Julia and
Blake do, like visit the waterfalls and the major sights in Rio. I went
hang gliding in Rio, which was how I came up with the idea for Julia
and Blake to take that leap. I spent New Year’s Eve on the beach in
Rio, too. All these experiences gave me ideas for what they could do on
their trip. But who they are and what they make of their journey is
really rooted in their characters and not in me. I’m much more
adventurous than Julia is!

(Deanna): I recently got
a tour of an area where a book I read was set. She pointed out where a
number of scenes were set. It was wonderful. It's like a guided through
a movie set, only it's a story in a book. Your experience in Brazil
sounds like that.

Do you see writing as a
career?

I definitely do. Writing
is something I
do because I love it, but it’s also the way that I support myself. It’s
my job, and I hope that the more I write the more my career will grow.
It’s important for me to view writing this way because it compels me to
sit down and get cracking even if I don’t feel like it. My husband gets
up and goes to work. I get up and go to the computer. By the end of the
day, I hope to have something to show for myself besides “I stared at
the wall and scrolled through Facebook.”

(Deanna): I wish you all
the best with this career. What do you love best about being a writer?

Do you have to travel
much concerning your book(s)?

Yes! The settings for my
books are so central to the stories, it’s important for me to get it
right. My first book takes place in the Adirondacks. I’ve done a lot of
hiking in the northeast so I knew I could get the description and the
sense of the place. My second book is set in Brazil, where I’ve also
spent a lot of time (although I wish I could have gone back to help me
write the story!). I’m now working on a series set in Washington state,
and for that I traveled to the Cascades to research the area and get a
sense of where I wanted to place the story and what the town would be
like. Let’s hope I can go back to make sure I’ve captured all the
details!

(Deanna): Traveling to
areas where you set your books sounds like such an exciting thing to
do, and all in the name of research. :-)

What were you like at
school? Were you good at English?

I’ve always been into
reading and writing intensive courses. In high school I took a lot of
visual art. In college I studied poetry. I majored in English and
Political Science, and then I did a PhD in English, where I eventually
switched from poetry and wound up studying philosophy, feminist theory,
and American literature. I’ve always had a lot of interests, though.
One of my dissertation committee members accused me of wanting to be a
“dilettante” when I said I wasn’t going into academia—as though my
desire to learn about a lot of different things meant I somehow wasn’t
committed. I’ve always been a serious student, but I’m the most
creative and fulfilled when I’m working out ideas in my books.

(Deanna): I love
learning. :-)

Do you work on an outline
to plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

Both! I start with an
outline—first a general arc of the story and then a more detailed
outline with each scene mapped out. When I get stuck, the outline
reminds me where to go. But no matter how well I think I know my
characters, they always turn out differently once words start coming
out of their mouths. I wind up adding new depth and complexity and
coming up with new situations. I therefore often rewrite the outline
when I’m halfway or thee-quarters through the manuscript because so
much has changed. The goal is to have an outline so I’m not flailing
around, but be flexible so the outline doesn’t hold me back as the
story grows.

Do you let the book stew
– leave it for a month and then come back to it to edit?

I absolutely believe in
letting the book stew (I like that way of thinking about it!). I get as
far as I can until I feel like I can’t see how to make it better
anymore, and then I put it aside for at least a month—usually longer,
until I’ve mostly forgotten about it. During that time I work on
something else—another writing project, for example, or a marketing
push. When I come back to the manuscript, I can do a better job of
editing because I can see the story more clearly. I’m not so close to
it that I can no longer tell what to do.

(Deanna): Time and
distance brings perspective I guess.

Do you proofread/edit all
your own books or do you get someone to do that for you?

When I think the
manuscript is ready, I send it to my agent. If she thinks it’s ready,
she sends it to my editor. A book is not done at this point. My editor
for HOW TO FALL was amazing and had great ideas for how to really
clarify each character’s trajectory and make sure the ending resulted
in all the feelings. We tossed around ideas, I went through a set of
edits, and when it was set it went to copyeditors and then
proofreaders. It’s really important not to skip any of these stages. I
kept thinking, “I don’t need to reread this, I’ve read it so many times
and all these professionals are working on it, too!” And then I’d fine
a word I wanted to change, or a phrase I repeated but hadn’t caught
before. I definitely learned how important it is to put in the time.

I’ve worked as a professional copyeditor and proofreader, so I know
what I’m doing. But I wouldn’t do it for my own book. It’s just not the
same as having another set of eyes and opinions. You can hire a team if
you’re self-publishing, there are lots of people out there. What
matters is finding an editor and a proofreader (they’re different jobs
with different skills!) you trust and respect.

Author Info

Rebecca Brooks lives in New York City in an
apartment filled with books. She received a PhD in English but decided
it was more fun to write books than write about them. She has
backpacked alone through India and Brazil, traveled by cargo boat down
the Amazon River, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, explored ice caves in Peru,
trekked to the source of the Ganges, and sunbathed in Burma, but she
always likes coming home to a cold beer and her hot husband in the
Bronx.

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About Me

I love all things beauty and makeup, reading and books, and also have a keen interest in cooking and food. Combined with a husband who loves wine, we write a number of blogs that align with our interests. I have two blogs: Deanna's World which focuses on all things books and beauty, and Daz In The Kitchen which is my cooking and food blog. I hope you visit and stay around.

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